This wild young four-piece from Utrecht are always in search of that sweet spot between cuteness and damnation. 45ACIDBABIES’ raw electro-punk can best be described as Bubblegum Garage or Cartoon Punk. Along the lines of icons Sleigh Bells, Millionaire and The XX.

First there was the book, now the soundtrack: with her album M, Aafke Romeijn gives us a guided tour of the country she outlined in her debut novel, Concept M. Clearly she is no longer just that singer-songwriter or electro-pop artist, but both of these and much, much more. From piano to orchestra to dark electro to hip-hop to fuga.

Do you dare just do nothing, while everyone is demanding so much from you? Afra and Sarah from Noord Nederlands Toneel and Club Guy&Roni, along with youth platform 2, challenge their audience to spend 20 minutes with them, doing nothing. After all, scientists say the universe came from nothing. It could lead to something really beautiful, unexpected, or painful. Or perhaps to absolutely NOTHING.

In a unique cross-over between contemporary circus and modern dance, Screws takes us on a poetic, absurd voyage through ten micro-performances that repeatedly inquire into the relationship between object and body, each time from a different perspective.

Ananazz: the juiciest band from Friesland. A musical hothouse where young people aged 14 to 18 from Leeuwarden and the surrounding area can learn to play together, improvise and perform. Ananazz play covers and their own songs in the Afro-Funk, Brass, Balkan and other genres. Let’s get this party started!

Ananazz: the juiciest band from Friesland. A musical hothouse where young people aged 14 to 18 from Leeuwarden and the surrounding area can learn to play together, improvise and perform. Ananazz play covers and their own songs in the Afro-Funk, Brass, Balkan and other genres. Let’s get this party started!

Two playful types take us along on a journey of rediscovery of the trampoline as an object. Acrobats Mara and Ole combine their trampoline skills with acrobatics, either with a partner or on the floor, as well as a lot of humour. They tell a story about two opposing characters. A duo trampoline show for the whole family.

Terschelling is an island that is constantly transforming — its beaches, dunes, forests, and dikes are an exposition of nature’s dynamic and ever-evolving landscape. ‘Pic Your Day’ is a collaborative photo project that aims to capture the island’s distinct environment through the eye of your mobile phone. With the cooperation of state forestry, twenty lookout posts have been installed across the island where we invite Oerol goers to stop, look, take a picture, and treasure a moment within nature’s rhythm, all while the festival beats on. By uploading your image to www.picyourday.com this moment becomes a part of a collective digital painting, offers your unique perspective, and adds to the story of the Island.

This audio installation draws us into the nocturnal dream world of the island’s inhabitants. Dreams that predict the future. Dreams where it’s possible to talk to those who are no longer here. Dreams that sow confusion and make us angry, sad – but also cheerful. Travel through the landscape of sleep.

Underground rock-pop with a dash of reggae, ska and more. Fresh, organically brewed party vibes for the whole family (usually): this is how British collective Bare Jams describe themselves. Starting out as a pair of street musicians in 2011, they are now a seasoned, seven-piece party phenomenon.

An exercise in seclusion, in being alone. In this production, we move from the outside world to the inside, on the way to complete seclusion – as if the world ceases to exist. Can you be alone with yourself? Or will you dissolve into an endless vacuum?

Baskar make a sultry mix of instrumental funk, afro-beat and psychedelic with the occasional dash of experimental jazz. Or, as they themselves call it: instrumental space-funk. Always with space for improvisation: wherever that groove goes, the wailing guitar and organ jams are sure to follow.

Director and actor Bert Hana treats us to a 12-minute fantastic family adventure: from behind his slide projector, Gerard gives a running commentary on the photos, like a fancy vlogger from his era. In five short episodes, we meet married couple the Verschuurs. Glamour is never far away, even in a newly built neighbourhood.

Flying with both feet on the ground – that’s Imagin Air. This interactive drawing act by Buro Rococo lets us escape our cares for a while. Close your eyes and be carried away on a journey to an inner destination. When you get back, there will be a personal, paper souvenir waiting for you. Imagin Air: a trip you’ll never forget.

Püwawau is a Maori word that means “spirit voices heard in running water”. Flemish-Dutch singer Chantal Acda uses her voice as a reflective space. In this electro-acoustic musical theatre performance, she investigates the universal factors that connect or influence voices, such as heritage, language and tearjerkers.

Let the metal balls roll, bounce, turn and jump through a large wooden marble track full of mechanical marvels. In the interactive lo-tech installation ‘Mechatropolis’, everything is connected: a maze, a magnetic lift, a course full of musical instruments. Practical puzzles for all ages to get to grips with.

What do you need to feel at home? Trapeze artist Clara Cortés and dancer Martina Gunkel explore the possibilities through irony and absurdity, realism and abstraction, text and movement. Inside a metal structure with a radio, a plant, a coffee machine and the audience, they each create their own familiar, poetic reality.

Geert Hautekiet from Antwerp invites us to join him around the long table in his compact theatre tent. In his unique, juicy, particularly passionate way, this born storyteller tells the story of a big farming family and their Sunday breakfast. Nothing will be the same again after you’ve savoured this marvellous, hilarious tale.

Polyrhythmic Venezuelan grooves mixed with ’60s surf, rock, samba and guaguancó. Conjunto Papa Upa clearly create a very unique sound: a kind of raw Latin surf-garage. Venezuela-born frontman Alex Figueira digs deep into the musical roots of his motherland, and with his band transplants these to pastures new.

Who says roots can only be retro? The Dawn Brothers might look like they’ve ridden in straight from the ’70s, but they are most definitely looking to the future. These Rotterdam rockers take the ’60s and ’70s as their starting point, but add in the very latest guitar and organ solos.

An exhilarating concert that builds up to an exuberant, rebellious, festive cocktail of bodies, voices and instruments. Music as an irresistible invitation to move and shake all your troubles away. Shake Shake Shake!

They’re from Groningen and they’re called De Messen. Featuring Eva Waterbolk and former members of Luie Hond, Luchtkasteel and LPG. Eva’s easy voice effortlessly injects the sharpest lyrics into their psychedelic (kraut-)pop. Electricity flowing through De Messen causes short-circuits on the moon.

Can we adapt to a saltier landscape and become a salt-loving species? As plants have been doing for centuries? What would we look like then? Anecdotes, news reports and philosophical musings are the starting points in the Onkruidenier’s (weedherbalist’s) multiverse.

We crave, push one another away and then grab hold again. Do we lose ourselves in the other or stay on our own island? What does the gaze or touch of another do to you? Eighteen young people draw on their own experiences for this physical, musical production on intimacy and awkwardness.

Forget the tropical clichés when it comes to DJ Jairzinho. Even as a child, he was intrigued by ‘Afro-Latin’ and jazz: music emerging from the cultural history of Africa, the Caribbean, South and North America. He shares the rich musical diversity of many different countries, such as Senegalese mbalax, Congolese classical soukous, Ethiopian jazz and punk and Cuban son and timba.

A minor accident with major consequences. This is the problem facing the Duo No Nonsense in “Oh No!”: a problem that causes the circus-theatre show to seize up in all kinds of ways. But the show must go on! Watch as the duo stumblingly seek a spectacular solution to save the circus.

If you like good vinyl records, you’ll love Ed Rock. He plays it all: soul, funk, rock, reggae, dance and indie. As well as a bit of the punk, new wave and early hip-hop he grew up with. Since the early ’90s, Ed Rock has been finding the perfect balance between the audience, his collection of 7” singles and a great night out.

Eilandkinderen (island children) is the annual cooperation between Oerol and children from Terschelling’s primary schools. Together with poets Hugo and Jörgen, the children think about the changing climate and the rising sea level. Is it possible that the island could one day disappear?

Where do you come from – really? Because she hears that question so often, Emma Lesuis travels back to her unfamiliar ‘home’ country: Surinam. This confronts her with a history she knew little about. What does this past mean to her, and to our society? Where do we come from – really?

Dokkum-born Esther de Jong writes Dutch-language diary music with influences from Father John Misty, Josh T. Pearson, WENDE and Robert Long. She likes digging: down into an underground world where it’s gloomy and grey, but where you can always dig deeper, in search of the familiar. Her first single ‘Meters Diep’ [‘Metres Deep?’] was released by Excelsior Recordings in January.

Music-maker Eva van Pelt’s work is set apart by her search for a different kind of contact with her audiences. In HIER, she searches for the purest form of this contact by spending a whole year playing concerts for just one person. What happens when performer and audience face each other as individuals, a whole song long?

Evil Empire Orchestra create a crazed crossover of psychedelic, soul-jazz and garage-funk. With her raw, untamed soul vocals, frontwoman Kimberly Dhondt sounds like a cross between Beth Gibbons and Janis Joplin. Add in the orchestra’s pulverising drive and godless grooves and you can’t help surrender to the raw, powerful, super-tight sound of this seven-piece band from Belgium.

Warm synthesizers, lo-fi percussion, sultry guitars and relaxed vocals. This is Feng Suave, or ‘gentle wind’. Back in 2017, this Dutch psych-pop duo put a few numbers online, and quickly racked up millions of listens. The Amsterdam-based pair knew right away they’d found their unique suave sound.

It’s catchy, it’s playful: it’s Figgie. This indie band from Utrecht’s lyrics are in Dutch, smart and to the point. They might not have released their first album yet, but every song sounds like the band – with a sound reminiscent of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, DIIV and Eefje de Visser – have been rocking the world for years.

Jacob and his daughter Nour are searching for a safe place to stay. During their long, dangerous journey, Jacob tells the most wonderful, funniest, most imaginative stories, transforming their harsh travels into a great adventure: a fairy tale in which Nour is the princess.

How can we really satisfy ourselves in our goal-oriented society, which allows for little awareness of our own bodies? In this theatrical reading on coming, journalist and maker Gian van Grunsven dives into the most elementary of sexual relationships: that with our own body. And everything around it, because: theories about sex are never only about sex.

Religion. The word alone can be enough to give young people the shakes. But since the Netherlands massively lost its faith, we’ve also lost our way. Which is why, specially for Oerol, part of Studentenkoor Amsterdam (SKA) has been re-christened as a guerilla choir. Let’s sing and be baptised as a pious subject of the collective isolation.

For almost twenty years now, The Hackensaw Boys have been playing that raw, American roots sound. In their new music, they translate the old ‘rowdy punk’ mentality for today. This collective have played with The Avett Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show, and provide a rough counterpoint to the over-polished sound of mainstream Nashville.

From making film music to a completely sold-out theatre and club tour: Dutch musical duo HAEVN got off to an unexpected start when their very first number was used for a commercial. This was followed by global hits such as 'Where The Heart Is' and 'Finding Out More', showing that HAEVN are well-known for their filmic, narrative sound and up-tempo synth-pop.

A little clown from England who behaves like a small, lost, naughty child. Falling in love with shoes, singing nonsensical songs about love with strangers, giving you great works from The National Theatre of Uselessness, armed with vegetables and audience members. A real live made up sea lion and life size orca on dry water. Tragedy, misery, false smiles and anything else that doesn’t exsist. All of this and not much more packed into Herbie’s Anarchic Pantomime Showcase Therapy Session. For all ages to stop, smile, laugh and be happy for a while!

For this edition of the Atelier Route, Oerol and Over het IJ Festival are working with other partners to develop new talent, and have chosen three makers: Marinke Eijgenraam (Schweigman&); Warre Simons (Kameroperahuis) and Igor Vrebac (De Nieuwe Oost). During the Atelier Route, the makers and festivals invite their audiences to take a look at the blueprints for new works.

Jamila writes intimate songs, then sits on the edge of your bed and sings, with her guitar, of things that are normally left unsaid. So that we might be able to understand them better. If not, we can always go out and get some chips. Last year, she played in a duo with Lucky Fonz III, and she is still half of the electro duo O, Kutjes.

Drift away to the Dutch-language poetic pop of Janna Lagerström. In her dreamy songs, she tells us stories of the city, the country, you, me and everything between what is and what could be. According to 3voor12, this singer-songwriter with a pronounced taste was one of the Popronde talents of 2018.

Chirp chirp …..chrrrrrreeee….. churlee churulee tcheeuruleerlu tchutjchuuu… Get ready for impressive improvisations from an orchestra whose work is based on your identity and the natural environment. The chirpers combine their sounds with percussive rhythms. The exceptional acoustics of the woods also play a major role, combining to conjure up an unforgettable, magical experience.

Joost’s Dutch-language hip-hop is really taking off. Tracks full of far-fetched wordplay and lyrics about fast-food, seagulls and ditch-jumping. Within a year, he’s blown the roof off of the Netherlands, leaving every audience in raptures. Joost loves to joke, but is certainly no joke. This multi-talent guarantees a show to remember.

German Josef Stiller moves in intimate circles with bamboo canes that may or may not fall. Will anyone catch them? And if so, who? In a simple but clever way, this juggler plays with his audience’s natural responses to manipulate our focus and attention.

Buy us, use us, throw us away – but remember, we will be back! The things that wash ashore take us on a plastic experience, way down into our guts. This visual and auditory installation made from stuff washed up onto the beaches of Terschelling is more urgent than ever.

He presses play and it starts. Jumping, climbing and crawling, Karel gives you the show of your life. He is the Dutch John Maus, making synthesizer pop reminiscent of Level 42, New Order and Duran Duran. Karel is the antidote to rigid band culture: drop that rigid thing, and shake it loose!

Typecasting, stereotypes, tokenism and discrimination: both in everyday life and at work, young performers experience the roles society allocates to them in a highly personal way. How does this affect their careers? A production on prejudice, racism, sexism and white privilege. And on a love broken by these.

Good vibes only from KD Soundsystem. This five-piece singing, dancing, mc-ing and dj-ing crew will blow you away with their Afro-Caribbean beats, unique live show and masses of diversity. The KD crew effortlessly combine genres including dancehall, soca, reggae, Afro-beats with dance, bass and hip-hop.

Every day, hundreds of people cross our path. How can we feel so alone in a world that is so interconnected? Through dance and performance, performance collective KNOT Kollektiv go in search of the most fundamental form of connection: laughter. Laughing is a kind of internal jogging, and can spark great expectations.

Kruidkoek play GarageJazz: their own obscure mix of jazz and rock, with an almost unhealthily large dose of improvisation and humour. For Oerol, they join forces with their good friend poet Joost Oomen to create wild songs that guarantee never a dull moment: songs about fruit, for example."

It Happens is a solo trapeze act, based on kinetic research and theatre, giving us an insight into the life of Júlia, the performer. A physical metaphor for the perfectly imperfect human condition: if everything goes well, you’ve probably overlooked something. Nothing and nobody is perfect: it happens.

The six strings of a guitar, a Casio keyboard and a drum kit. Then all you need is a few chords and some breaks to make the ambient temperature soar. According to Jim and Reggie of La Jungle, 1 + 1 makes a perfect 3 for their math/kraut/trans rock. Let these two red-haired monkeys spirit you away to their natural habitat: La Jungle.

Viva música mestiza, the sound of Barcelona! Latin rhythms, flamenco feel, the distinctive ‘rumba catalana’, rock and reggae/ska combine to shape the sound of this Spanish crossover style. The Barcelonans of La Sra. Tomasa are leading the charge of ‘electro-mestizo’: a young, modern wave that mixes infectious salsa and timba with danceable drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep.

Call it swamp blues, rock ‘n’ roll, southern gothic or hillbilly blues: The Legendary Shack Shakers have been a highly unique combo of all these and more for over 20 years now. They have released nine albums and featured on the soundtrack of the Grammy-nominated HBO series True Blood. You can’t miss the frontman of this five-piece roadshow from Kentucky: JD Wilkes is a charismatic, scarecrow-thin blues harmonica player comparable to Iggy Pop and David Byrne.

HERO is about a girl who can’t sleep. The world is crying out for help, but who is responding? This girl has waited long enough for a superhero to come and save the world. It’s time to put on the cape herself.

In SSST!, you can sit down with your child in the woods. Among the tree trunks and moss, you can follow the adventures of three hunters and a little bird. Music, animal puppets and a lot of peekaboo effects provide an experience that prickles the imagination. A production that deals with the importance of a wonderstruck view of the world.

Five female millennials have ended up in the gameshow Rat Race Runway. They’ll do whatever it takes to outdo each other. Escape is impossible and the lack of a quizmaster makes it painfully clear that that they have to keep the game going themselves. In-your-face, energetic, sensual dance collective MAN || CO ask the question: how do people deal with pressure and expectations?

These artificial shells, made from recycled plastic, loudspeakers and sensors, create a unique symphonic spectacle. In this installation, a sensor captures real-time information on water quality and translates this into sound.

SWANS seems an innocent name for this installation’s radical yet subtle intervention in nature. The sight of these eight satellite dishes arouses both feelings of revulsion and intimate familiarity. The work acts like a hack in the natural environment, challenging the viewers with its merging of technological waste and nature.

In Mezelfie, you can switch your perspective with that of a camera. Put on a VR headset and get a bird’s eye view of yourself walking along the streets and across the beach; learn to control your body in a different way. An interactive performance by artist duo Mardulier & Deprez that plays with our self-image in a realistic virtual space.

Hey Are You OK may be Marike Jager’s fifth studio album, but for her it feels like a debut. More than on her previous albums, this time Jager was inspired by the music she loves to listen to herself: from Beck to Madonna. Expect fresh, versatile indie pop bursting with strings, synths and samples.

On a sweltering day in June 2017, the deadliest forest fire in Portuguese history broke out. Fogo Correndo is a theatrical reconstruction of the 24 hours leading up to this catastrophe. As the flames gradually get closer, we find out how forest fires start and what the shocking motives are of those who start them.

Under the name Golden Arches, traumahelikopter frontman Mark Lada presents his first Dutch-language solo work. Together with members of Afterpartees, Mozes and the Firstborn and PAUW, among others, Lada has taken a new path: English-language garage rock makes way for melancholy pop songs in Dutch; upbeat, with a sombre undertone here and there.

Every piece of land on Terschelling has a very old name. These names often tell us something about the land’s use or an event that took place there. Prepare for a hike across the Griene Pôlle, where you will meet a nameless, shy man who is up to all sorts…

Step into a fascinating world of illusions. What do you see and what do you think you see? Under The Surface operates where visual arts and theater meet, and uses different perspectives. The game can only start when you are there!

When the visitors to Oerol have flooded back to the mainland, like a wave retreating from the beach, and the quiet has returned: what stay on the island? How many valuable possessions are left behind in Lost Property? Dive with Mees into the sea of stories behind these precious objects; submerge yourself in songs and sketches.

Memo Pimiento Electric Orchestra is a fusion of the latin american cumbia culture root and the european electro music with a psychedelic hint. Memo throws together sounds and samples from analog and digital modified synths or effect boxes, supported by a frenetic girl singer/MC and a rampant percussionist. Time to put that siësta behind you, join the party!

A passionate storytelling performance about war and peace. About fathers and grandfathers who fought for what they believed in. About death and love of life. About faraway heroic deeds. And above all: about the question of what you do with this, as your father’s son.

Storytelling is perhaps the most elementary form of theatre. During Oerol, Amsterdam storytelling stage Mezrab takes us into a new story every day, accompanied by live music. During the first weekend of Oerol the stories are in Dutch, and from Thursday 20 June they will be told in English.

An ugly duckling, a bird of paradise or a headless chicken? In the imaginative circus production Koekoek, crazy, absurd Milan explores the differences that bring colour to our world. The result: an acrobatic choreography about picking yourself up, waste products and above all never giving up. Laying an egg is not so easy.

The environment is in jeopardy, the forests are on fire, sea levels are rising. But never fear, the men from B.V. Natuur are here! Using their funny tow truck, they’re creating a tree: version 2.0. Through biting slapstick, Karel Casier and Aat Dirks of Mobil&Casier ask the question: can we make nature?

Triangle, bassoon, kettledrum, oboe, recorder and an English horn. NAFT prove that this really is the perfect combination for an idiosyncratic mix of house, techno and superior beats. You might see these Belgians on the streets of Ghent, in the DJ booth or live on stage. NAFT light up the party and make it go with a bang.

A theatrical concert performance, inspired by and based on the oeuvre of German playwright Heiner Müller. The music is a rousing audio interpretation of a dark message, or as the band put it: “melodrama on speed.” Conquer your fear by honouring it; dance to the rhythm of your pain.

Michiel Lieuwma reveals his brilliant, absurd scenarios for the future using a bizarre network of slides, diagrams, illustrations and tables. Get ready for a wild, satirical trip through the deepest recesses of the PowerPoint presentation. Will we be able to save humanity, or is destruction already inevitable?

The Futurists is a scintillating, musical, theatrical thought experiment that unfolds on site, every evening anew. With help from scientists, philosophers, musicians and theatre-makers, we discover how we will eat, love, travel, die, care, pray, work, learn and fight in the near future.

When theatre-maker Freek Vielen’s life gets tough, he finds important lessons on how to make it work again in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade. A resolute, honest monologue on finding comfort in a world in which time is often merciless.

Cameroon-born Ntjam Rosie makes strong soul numbers for the whole world. Her latest album, Breaking Cycles, got rave reviews and was voted best soul album of 2017 by Echoes Magazine in the UK. You might have seen her on De Wereld Draait Door, Vrije Geluiden or at North Sea Jazz.

Together with Sense of Place, the Oerol landscape laboratory selected a special group of artists to create Moving Landscapes, a travelling exhibition of spatial works that challenges us to experience the environment in new ways. These new installations are combined with an old favourite: Camera Batavia.

Onipa means ‘human’ in Akan, the ancient language of Ghana’s Ashanti people. Together, this band show the power of connection through collaboration: from Ghana to London, from our ancestors to our children. Using guitar, synthesizers and lots of percussion and drums, Onipa bring energy, groove, electronics, Afro-futurism, dance and fire!

Funk, soul, reggae, ska, rock and rap. Orange Grove – named after a place on their home island of Sint Maarten – make their own, summery mix of all these genres. On their last album 'Ganja Rock' they worked with the likes of Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire and dancehall legend King Yellowman.

Using just their voices as weapons, the performers from KONVOOI explore all aspects of war. A scream, a laugh, a quick whispered prayer. At times these sounds result in melodies, at others they ebb away. A philosophical, absurd trip dealing with the question of whether insight always leads to morality.

Orkater Collective Lars Doberman invite us to take part in a celebration of celebrations. An associative, sensual coming together in Terschelling’s dense woods. With colourful backdrops, pulsating drums and a broad spectrum of live music, driven by the heartbeat; the rhythm of everything that lives.

The Esperanza – once a glamourous cruise ship where the music of Papa Tango ruled supreme – now lies rusting away in a dock. Actress Meral Polat and tango king Carel Kraayenhof enrich this musical theatre performance marking the 10th anniversary of Via Berlin, who made their debut at Oerol in 2009 with Een Mond Vol Zand.

Pick-up-trucks, piñatas, cactuses and coyotes. This is the atmosphere evoked by Mexican Sergio Mendoza and his ‘Orkesta’. Their latest record is more ‘English’ and more ‘poppy’, but he’ll never abandon his roots and passion for the mambo. Accompanied by the scent of spicy burritos and tasty tequila. Guarachando!!!

Danger Comedian and Juggler, he's the classic British variety artist. He's spent 20 years making people laugh the world over with a 3m ladder, some knives and a kilt. Get ready to be surprised by his high energy and great humour.

It all started in an Amsterdam attic in 2016 – now Pip Blom is one of the biggest indie bands in the Netherlands. The indie-garage-punk produced by this four-piece band (think Breeders, Blur and Parquet Courts) is also attracting followers in England, where they have now also signed to a label.

At sea level, it is 15,419 feet – approximately 4.7 km – to the curvature of the earth. This musical, mechanical production invites us to (re)discover the sensation of peering at the horizon. Is something coming closer? Or moving further away? Can you believe your eyes – or your ears?

Camille and Noortje are trying to see the world as it might be in the future using the idea of speculative biology. What will arise, evolve and survive long after we are extinct? At Oerol, together with their audience Radio Sancha will bring a winged beast of the far future to life: the magnavem.

Rizan Said is ‘The King of Keyboard’. Alone behind his synthesizers, this Syrian can get everyone dancing. He is also behind hundreds of compositions for Syrian film and television, and later became known playing keys for phenomenon Omar Souleyman. Having gone solo, Said’s Dabke dance numbers show that Syrian culture – in spite of all the conflict – can still produce positive vibes.

Rogier Kappers – De Glazendraaier – has been fascinated by the rarefied, hypnotic sound of singing glasses since he was a boy. While playing his versions of Bach, the Beatles, Brel and Arvö Part, Kappers talks about his voyage of discovery in glass: why is there so much mystery surrounding the ‘glass harmonica’ and why did this instrument disappear?

Charlie just can’t be normal. Not according to the standards imposed by our society. He has a different kind of ‘normal’. Together with musical theatre collective Club Gewalt, Romana Vrede has created a living artwork about and with Charlie Stevens, her son and only child.

Romperayo plays Colombian tropical rhythms. Cumbia – but then updated, and a little crazy. The traditional rhythms are supplemented by modern electronics, ’70s psychedelic and other musical pyrotechnics. Get ready for musical brilliance and danceable craziness: we bet you can't help smiling!

What is the power of standing up for what you believe in? Dutch-Moroccan Roufaida has a musical answer to this question. In her warm – at times dark – pop numbers, she talks about loyalty, love, alienation and resistance. Sounds like? The driving guitars of Fink, the wondrousness of Bjork and the space of early Radiohead.

In the seemingly cheerful, relaxed co-existence of a mother and her two daughters, the truth gradually bubbles to the surface. Is their love a strong enough foundation? A family story that playfully reveals the tragedy of a dramatically charged past.

This energetic six-piece rasp, prickle and spark. Wherever they play, Fuse transport the audience in no time into their own musical world: a world of classical music, jazz, folk, minimal music and improvisation. Entering their Secret Garden Session, you can roam around this beautiful garden full of sustainable fruit, before arriving at the ideal festival break. Together, Oerol and Fuse have created the perfect environment for audience and band: “Oerol is an inspirational place where we can strike out from our musical mainland: this will be an adventurous live experience – for us too!"

Hey Are You OK may be Marike Jager’s fifth studio album, but for her it feels like a debut. More than on her previous albums, this time Jager was inspired by the music she loves to listen to herself: from Beck to Madonna. In her Secret Garden Session, she will reveal her most personal side: no synths or samples, just solo. Come and escape the bustle of the festival in de Zelfpluktuin. You’ve never heard Marike Jager’s fresh, versatile pop music in a setting as intimate as this before.

German pianist and composer Martin Kohlstedt isn’t intimidated by conventions dictating what classical music should be. Kohlstedt established his reputation within the neo-classical movement with his piano albums Tag and Nacht. Later, he combined his beloved piano sound with electronic soundscapes. Works that emphasise enjoying the moment above structure and all the technical aspects of making music. In his Secret Garden Session on Terschelling, Kohlstedt will also go in search of pure musical expression: music as social interaction.

Making music in the moment is what makes Amsterdam-based pianist Matteo Myderwyk happiest – and it shows. He has left behind heroes such as Bach, Liszt and Messiaen to focus on serene, gripping soundtracks. On his albums Myderwyk sticks to piano, but live he brings in all kinds of variations. Expect synthesizers, beat machines and organs between the fields of lovely flowers and bounteous plum trees.

From desert grooves on the rooftops of Timbuctoo to trance sessions in the mountains of Morocco – American percussionist, composer and world traveller Orpheo McCord is inspired by music from over the world. McCord – who previously played with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – now works with resonant, meditative state-inducing percussion, with the aim of sharing and integrating indigenous music. He describes his session at the Zelfpluktuin as "a sonic journey for a peace of mind".

With his piano and ringing voice, Ruben Hein is sure to hit your sensitive spot. On his latest album Groundwork Rising, Hein went back in search of the beginning – simplicity. On his most honest, open songs he uses only his voice and piano. For his Secret Garden Session, he’ll be bringing this music to life amidst the Zelfpluktuin between Hoorn and Oosterend.

Sarah Neufeld is a ground-breaking violinist and composer from Montreal, Canada. Famous as a founder member of the band Arcade Fire, she is now bringing out innovative solo albums. It is no surprise that Neufeld is now working with saxophonist Colin Stetson: both are supremely able to stretch the capabilities of their instruments to the max. Recognisable in her music are the playfulness of cult hero Arthur Russell, the acoustic-electric interactions of Julia Holter and the raw energy of Arcade Fire. Set all this among the beautiful flowers of the fields and it can’t be anything other than unforgettable.

If you like to daydream and listen attentively at the same time, Sebastian Plano is for you. His neo-classical pieces create a calming atmosphere, but at the same time are crammed full of interesting idiosyncrasies. At the age of seven, Argentinean Sebastian Plano was already playing cello, and he wrote his first piece aged eleven. He now lives in Berlin, where he is involved in the world of new electronics. His modern work can be compared to artists such as Ólafur Arnalds, Max Richter and Nils Frahm. Escape the bustle of the festival and get lost among the flowers of the fields to his soundscapes and neoclassical music.

Together with soprano Bernadeta Astari, music and visual arts quartet Touki Delphine present beautiful classical songs by Handel, Monteverdi, Purcell, Vivaldi and Ravel. Each song will be accompanied by a household chore from the Encyclopaedia for the Modern Housewife published in 1979. During their Secret Garden Session they will use electronic instruments as well as household, garden, kitchen and simple cooking equipment to cook up a tasty domestic orchestra just for you. An absurd domestic spectacle, in the middle of the Zelfpluktuin (pick-it-yourself garden).

Catchy female vocals over driving synths and drums. Dutch alternative synth-pop band Sheila and the Kit make melodic numbers that flirt with the sounds of the ’80s. The point? To get you dancing to their lyrics, about everything that means something to them: love, awkwardness, clothes, books, skating and 7-UP.

A surprising, visual mosaic narrative that unfolds on a real campsite. Watch from a helicopter view and get new insights into the temporary society we call camping. Experience the great expectations and deep existential crises of the campers. See how man is always in search of a destination.

Authoritarian leaders, algorithms and globalisation. Democracies are under pressure from all sides. Something has to change if we want a fairer distribution of power. But what exactly – and how? An interactive performance that takes us along on an exploration of history, the present and the future of democracy.

This documentary installation draws us into the thoughts of a young woman on the other side of the world. Things that strike her, as well as memories and musings on how life used to be. For PI, STRANGELAND collected stories from people who live in a country where capitalism is a young system. These stories cast new light on a situation we take for granted.

THE END invites us to zoom in on details from the rhythm of everyday life. At three different places on the island and three specific moments in the day, THE END offers philosophical and poetic perspectives on the phenomenon of transformation.

This installation paints a terrifying vision of the future relationship between man and nature. Terschelling as we know it will be no more. If an archive were to be assembled from a few carefully chosen fragments of the life of Terschelling, what would it contain? Objects? Memories? Sounds or dialects? Living beings, flora and fauna?

Join in as a real bio-builder and help realise this gigantic self-organising pattern! You will be given the work square, some empty bags and a few rules – the rest is up to you. This installation visualises a reproductive method for ‘bio-builders’: organisms that not only respond to environmental factors, but also exert a strong influence on them.

Silent Messengers is an installation made up of fifty kites that visually question Terschelling’s rapidly growing goose population. The goose is a controversial inhabitant of Terschelling; their population is skyrocketing and they are spending longer and longer here. On the one hand these birds decorate the landscape, but on the other their presence endangers the island.

Tape Toy is mad, and that’s good. This young Amsterdam-based quartet do their thing, which led to them being selected as a Talent by both OOR magazine & 3voor12. They make music to jump up and down to, with loud guitars, smart synths and crazy changes of direction. All with the energy of a racehorse and songs that are immediate earworms.

This lively light installation allows us to experience, all day long, power generated entirely by micro-organisms and bacteria from the muddy soil of Terschelling. Down there below your feet is a world of organisms constantly excreting electrons from their metabolisms. After dark, you can experience this light work in a very different way.

The Grand East kick up a steamy rock ‘n’ soul show, with a singer who sings like there’s a voodoo priest on his heels. For their new album, this Dutch group drew inspiration from bands such as The Velvet Underground and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

Do you ever feel nostalgic for your adolescence, still on the way to becoming someone? Never fear – ten young people are making an exception for you: you can come to their party, just this once. Back to that feeling of eternity, of never-ending force and stunning naivety.

A podcast walk across a dike as an exercise for man in being a thing among things. Lose yourself in the perspectives offered by the lifeless landscape elements around you, and let your associations roam free.

Enter the bright green testbed of Botanical Wasteland. A futuristic biotope full of plastic waste and techno junk, where man is no longer central. Where everything is interlinked and the boundaries between nature, technology, the body and identity have been eliminated. A new world, unlike any you have seen on stage before.

A theatrical solo inspired by the life and work of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche was also known as ‘the philosopher with the hammer’ as he looked critically at everything generally accepted as true, often smashing it in the process. Treading in his footsteps, Casper Vandeputte and Vincent van der Valk test how much truth they can take.

Thijs Boontjes sounds like a cross between Herman Brood and André Hazes. Sweet ballads take turns with up-tempo party hits. With his lyrics, organ and orchestra, he plays love songs with a wink that will also bring a tear to your cheek.

Inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s second Firebird suite – first performed exactly a century ago – Touki Delphine presents Firebird. This time for an orchestra of lights; without musicians, without performers. Firebird is an original, eclectic composition and a hopeful original fairy tale about man’s capacity for transformation.

These five gurus are not any old gurus: they are turbo gurus. They will take you on a musical trip around the world. From Balkan beats to Arabian trap, TURBOGURU whip up an atmosphere that has helped many a dancing audience reach enlightenment. Get those chakras aligned and shake your lower baseline: now it’s Terschelling’s turn!

Welcome to the future. Technostalgia takes us on an archaeological voyage of discovery through the deserted landscape of Mars – the Pompeii of the future. A servant left behind looks back with us at man’s vain attempts to design a new world here. (English version is available on request at the location).

A pitch black search for the source of evil. Through his alter ego Bobby Baxter, born storyteller Thomas Dudkiewicz (Bedtime Stories) gets us to see the world in a different way. Between the known and the unknown, we discover dark materials.

Valvetronic Brassband is a young brass band from Amsterdam with a focus on house, dance and hip-hop. With their brass section, percussion, drums and heaps of enthusiasm, they are guaranteed to get the audience dancing. And jumping: lots and lots of jumping.

A multi-disciplinary diptych that confronts us with the absurd fragility of life. During a surrealistic audio tour, we are simultaneously observer and actor, and our surroundings become an instant film set. The second part of the show is a disarming, filmic and factual or fictional portrait of eight ambitious young adults.

There have been rites in all parts of the world and all eras. But what rites lurk behind our everyday lives? Wetten met Koppen delve into the magical world of these hidden rites. What are we trying to celebrate, comprehend, let go, or find? As in the modern age we are always pushed for time, they came up with the ‘powernap to the higher self’.

Expect Moroccan hip-hop, reggaeton from Egypt and Israel, speed Dabke from the Lebanon, Syrian trap, Palestinian hip-hop and many other tastes and flavours from the Middle East and beyond. The Yallah! Yallah! DJs will be filling Oerol with Arab-flavoured vibes. No thousand-and-one-nights, no belly dancers: on the 1,002nd night we will dance: Yallah!

DJ and music programmer Zé Karlo plays colourful music from all corners of the globe. This could be an eclectic mix of tropical cheerfulness & Afro, rousing beats from the Balkans and the Middle East, or more well-known pop, hip-hop and dancehall tracks. Dance along to this varied voyage of discovery through the world of music!

Irresistible dance grooves with drums, horns, beats, vocals and dancers. Zep & Friends’ spectacular show has it all. The 19-year-old drummer and producer is the focal point, and together with his musician friends and dance group, he brings the vibe to boiling point.

From a battered denim jacket to an extravagant, glittering dress. Our clothes are an expression of who we are, who we want to be – and sometimes who we have to be. Performance company Zwermers have created an ode to colourful, versatile human beings. What does our ‘second skin’ say about us? Does the person wear the clothes, or do the clothes wear the person?